KNOCKAERT'S CONFIDENT APPROACH

25 February 2017

Kieran Cleeves

The Albion winger feels energised going into today's game.

Brighton & Hove Albion winger Anthony Knockaert has been pleased with the confident atmosphere generated from their previous victory at Barnsley, as the Seagulls welcome Reading to the Amex this evening.

Chris Hughton’s team sealed a 2-0 win away at Barnsley on their last outing, and Knockaert believes his team-mates have benefited from the winning feeling throughout the week leading into their meeting with the Royals.

He said: “It’s always good to win a game when you know you won’t play for another week. Your mind feels better and you feel more confident during the week of training.

“The lads were happy this week and you enjoy things more. It’s always good to win a game away from home, but it’s going to be the same desire and motivation to take three points from Reading.

“It’s not because it’s Reading, it’s because it’s another home game and we know we’re in good form at home. We want to do everything in front of our fans.”

Knockaert has claimed six assists in his last four games, most recently laying on both of Sam Baldock’s goals at Oakwell, and the Frenchman praised the club’s strikers for their various attributes in attack.

“Tomer [Hemed] is a goalscorer, Sam [Baldock] is someone that uses his pace and capabilities to do great things going forward, and Glenn [Murray] is more of a target man that also scores goals.

“It’s great for me to have these players around me, and I think that’s why my stats have been really good. They use me a lot and I can also use them.

“If you look at the stats this season, it’s crazy. Tomer hasn’t played a lot of games compared to last season, but he’s still scored a lot of goals.

“Sam is in great form as well, and Glenn is on 16 goals for the season. If you look at them, they’ve been crucial and we’re lucky to have them in the team.”

The Royals will be looking to cut the eight-point gap between themselves and Albion at the Amex today, and although the game represents a top-of-the-table clash, Knockaert played down the importance of the fixture.

“I like every game, they’re all important. As you can see in this league, there are no easy games. If you think any game is easy, then that will be the game where you drop points.

“For the media, it’s a big game in terms of the league, but for us, it’s a normal game and another game that we have to win. It’s as simple as that.

“We don’t think about how many points they have or how many points we have, we just want the three points, it’s another home game and all of our focus is on Reading.”